At first level Total Eclipse Adventurers are new to the world of adventure, but not to life itself. They have had a mundane life of labor and effort, gained many skills, and have now decided to try some of those skills out on a life of danger and great rewards. They do not, however, spring forth fully armored and skilled into the world. They carry mundane and sometimes silly weapons and are recognized in the world of adventure, yet.

The starting game has 12 Archetypes. Nearly any player can shape their Adventurer to any of the Archetypes in 15 to 20 levels, so while the Adventurer creation process is designed to take choice out of the starting adventurer creation process, the early years of an Adventurer's life can see the Adventurer take nearly any route they want. The system even allows an adventurer to avoid an archetype all together, a difficult choice but not an impossible one.

Archetypes were themselves modeled on medieval collegium, knightly orders, religious orders, secret societies, and the like that required not only certain skills and masteries to join, but the recognition of a common life style. Some archetypes are more organized than others, but members of each Archetype are recognized by each other and by others in the society at large.